Rules and Regulations
'MODERATION' Posts which disregard Bilge Etiquette may be deleted or edited by a Minister without notice depending on the harshness of the infringement. Poster will be warned once; a second infringement will result in a 3 day restriction; a third infringement is a week's restriction; fourth and final infringement is being disabled, don't bother coming back. Punishments may be more severe if it is clear the person is a no-good spammer who must be stopped at all costs. Missertrosses may be viewed by Ministers. Ministers should not spy on Missertrosses just for the sake of spying. They should have permission from the person, or at the very least, a gut instinct that someone needs to be watched in case of, for instance, spamming. Anyone caught disregarding Bilge Etiquette in their Missives may be told off by a Minister. If you receive such a Missertross, please inform a Minister. You may delete the Missertross if you wish; it will still be viewable, however, by the Minister. CONTACTING A MINISTER WHO CAN EDIT POSTS If you happen across a post with any of the following, contact a Minister or Captain immediately. First, Missertross them. If they're not currently logged into the VI, try seeing if they are logged into AIM, MSN, Skype, etc. Ministers should reply to such warnings immediately by first informing the person that the warning has been received and then, dropping all else, go forth and fix the problem. 'SWEARING' Edit the repulsive word and replace it with one less repulsive. Minor British swears seem to be all right (no one's complained yet), but for full effect of the edit, words like "poot", "sugar", etc, should be used. Kindly Missertross the poster that swearing is against the rules. Level 1 warning: Next infringement is 3 day restriction. 'NAUGHTY' Remove all mention of it from the post, don't bother replacing it with anything. Delete the entire post if you must. Kissing and cuddling does not constitute a threat; innuendo should be downplayed as much as possible. Angrily Missertross the poster that that sort of thing is not tolerated on the VI. Level 3 warning: Automatic 1-week restriction. Next infringement is being permanently disabled. 'DISRESPECT' Disrespect in OOC posts should be edited if it is offensive. Ministers are cautioned to use discretion in deciding if the post is truly disrespectful or merely disagreeable. One who asks a Minister, Captain, Officer, or anyone of rank "Why?" when one is told not to do something is not grounds for disrespect, but mere clarity (although they ought to still do as they're told before asking). Kindly Missertross the poster and explain that being disrespectful won't get them anywhere in life, but might get them a slap upside the head. Direct or indirect antagonism of other players is grounds for disrespect as well. Level 1 warning: Next warning is 3-day restriction. Further disregard for this rule is grounds for being permanently disabled. 'SPAMMING' There are several different ways to spam. Repeated useless posts consisting of "aghd" or so forth are Level 4 spam. Level 4 warning: Poster is immediately disabled. If his posts are offensive, the content will be removed. Constantly annoying others and acting like an idiot is Level 3 spam. Level 3 warning: 1-week restriction, and a terse Missertross telling them to smarten up. Posting several times in a row, starting new threads willy-nilly, etc, is Level 2 spam. Kindly but sternly Missertross the poster to stop, ask them to be patient and think things through; be kind and gentle, as people like this could be on special medication, or worse. Level 1 warning: Next warning is 3-day restriction. Posting several times in a row to correct oneself or ask questions, or poke people as if the VI is a chat, is Level 1 spam, and is usually simply someone not understanding how the forums work, or an excitable younger member. Kindly Missertross the poster and explain the basics of the VI's forums. If they persist, treat them as a Level 2 spammer. Accidentally double-posting is not spam. It's just bacon. SPAMMING OF THE ENTRY GALLERY Is considered Level 2 spam, done simply for the money, by people who don't know the entries are graded by real people. Kindly Missertross them that if they want decent money for submissions, they should put some effort into something before submitting it. Depending on the For each gallery spammed (Art, Poetry, Riddles, Stories), the submitter may be fined 50-100 gilders EACH. Submission Graders should not take this into their own hands, but contact a Minister with the number of spam-submissions received, and by whom. 'FORUMS & ROLEPLAY MODERATION' 'THOROUGHFARE:' All Ministers and Captains reserve the right to Missertross, politely, anyone who infringes upon the rules of the current thread in question. 42 hour grace period before post is edited by a Minister. Ministers and Captains may inform players to disregard certain instances of the post in question until then. 'BILGE:' All Ministers, Captains, and Thread-starters reserve the right to Missertross, politely, anyone who infringes upon the rules of the current thread in question. 24 hour grace period before you may request a Minister to edit the post - 24 more hours before the Minister should be allowed to do so. Ministers, Captains and Thread-starters may inform players to disregard certain instances of the post in question until then. 'ALL FORUMS: ' Everyone reserves the right to Missertross, politely, anyone who infringes upon the rules of Bilge Etiquette. 24 hour grace period before you may request a Minister to edit the post - 24 more hours before the Minister should be allowed to do so. In the case of your character being autoed without your permission, you may inform other players to disregard certain instances of the post in question until then. Posts which disregard Bilge Etiquette may be deleted or edited by a Minister without notice depending on the harshness of the infringement. Poster will be warned once; a second infringement will result in a 3 day restriction; a third infringement is a week's restriction; fourth and final infringement is being disabled, don't bother coming back. Punishments may be more severe if it is clear the person is a no-good spammer who must be stopped at all costs. 'FACTIONS AND CORPORATIONS: ' If at all possible when alerting a Minister to a post that should be deleted or edited, please supply the Minister with a Faction Token or Stock in the corporation so that they may access the forum where the post is. Ministers reserve the right to do whatever is necessary to gain access to these forums to dispose of the offending post. 'THOROUGHFARE AND VI-WIDE PLOTS' The Thoroughfare is for VI-wide Plots, not just any old plot a Minister or Captain wants to start. A VI-wide Plot constitutes as: Any plot that a Minister feels will be well-received and encompasses at least half the VI's population in terms of Ministries, factions or ships. (Example, a plot that involves direct support from the MinoWar and their immediate followers, the MinoNice and their immediate followers, the Fogeys, the Kreehold, and the crews of two ships.) Depending on the given activity status of factions and so forth, the level of supportive roles can be less. Ministers are cautioned to use discretion when starting a VI-wide Plot that isn't all that "wide". (Note that a Ministry's "immediate followers" doesn't necessarily mean, for instance, the MinoWar's Stoatorian Guard or the MinoNice's Unsmudgables, but rather those immediately close to the Minister, such as family, friends or those currently under their employment outside of a faction.) Any intership plot between two or more ships that can't be started in the Ship's messes. 'SPECIES' If the species of your Main character or Alternate character is not to be found on the List of Acceptable Species, you may find yourself being asked to change your characters back. Every player has the right to remind each-other that it is Frowned Upon to have exotic species, and players are urged to listen to such warnings before it is Too Late. If a Minister tells you you are being too exotic, it is best advised to Do As You Are Told. ACCEPTABLE RACES: Monitor Lizard, Fox, Ferret, Pine Marten, Stoat, Weasel, Rat, and Wildcat. Only a few non-list species are really accepted by the majority of the VI's Ministers and players, and it is commonly agreed that in the cases of foxes and wildcats, certain types may be allowed, such as Fennec Foxes and Snow Leopards. Other, larger wildcat species, such as panthers, tigers, cheetah and lions, however, are not. Do not touch the larger spectrum of the species. Do not look directly at the larger spectrum of the species. Do not submerge the species in liquid, even partially. Most importantly, under no circumstances should you - 'CONTESTS' 'ROLE-PLAYING CONTESTS' Anyone may start a Role-Playing Contest, so long as it is in good taste. It is generally a good idea to explain the Contest idea to an active Minister for approval. You may ask said Minister for advice on how to run the Contest, and for them to supply the Contest with reasonable prizes. Ministers reserve the right to disallow the Contest to be started or decline to supply prizes for it. Ministers also reserve the right to be too dimwitted to give adequate advice. Ministers reserve the right to delete contests started without their permission if it is in violation of Bilge Etiquette, or just plain inappropriate. Role-Playing Contests are restricted to the Bilge, Faction forums, or private corporation forums. They are NOT to be posted in the Thoroughfare. If another Role-Playing Contest is underway or about to begin, please wait until it is over (or has died off) before posting your own, UNLESS the two are so dissimilar that their co-existence will not hamper the activity of either one. 'OOC CONTESTS - ART, POETRY, RIDDLES, STORIES' Anyone may start an OOC Contest, so long as it is in good taste. It is generally a good idea to explain the Contest idea to an active Minister for approval. You may ask said Minister for advice on how to run the Contest, and for them to supply the Contest with reasonable prizes. Ministers reserve the right to disallow the Contest to be started or decline to supply prizes for it. Ministers also reserve the right to be too dimwitted to give adequate advice. Ministers reserve the right to delete contests started without their permission if it is in violation of Bilge Etiquette, or just plain inappropriate. Privately sponsored contests will NOT be supplied with prizes by Ministers. They are constituted as: Requests for art, poetry, etc, of one's character. Exceptions to this are such requests as: Odes to departed characters, group pictures of four of more characters that have something in common (such as a picture of all the current ship's cooks, etc), or contests that involve writing something that has actual value to potential readers. Several OOC Contests may be started at the same time. Contest-starters are urged to use discretion when starting a contest of the same type as another that is currently running. They are also urged to consider the effect that their contest will have on the activity of the VI. (If people are too busy drawing, they ain't gonna post now, are they? And that can get you lynched here.) Privately sponsored contests belong in the Advertisements forum, NOT the Bilge:OOC. The Bilge:OOC is reserved for Minister-supported contests. Be aware that if you start your contest without Minister support in the Advertisements, and it later gains Minister-support, it cannot be moved to the Bilge:OOC. 'ROLE-PLAYING TOKENS' Any Minister who can do so reserves the right, on the slightest whim, to give out an appropriate amount of Role-Playing Tokens to whomever they deem worthy of said Tokens. The Minister of Niceties is in charge of when Role-Play Tokens are given out using the Imperial Auditor Faction's tallies, and just how many posts one must make to deserve a Token. The Head Auditor of the Imperial Auditors Faction reserves the right to hire or fire Auditors as he or she sees fit, and to change the way auditing (post-counting) is done, from how often it is done, to the exact auditing specifications he or she comes up with. Don't waste your tokens on Experience. Don't sell your tokens, or buy them. Well, you CAN, but it's untrustworthy; because tokens only work one at a time (one token takes up one item slot) and buying/selling sometimes lumps tokens into a single item slot... 'FACTIONS' 'STARTING A FACTION' When starting a new faction, several things must be taken into consideration. Need, Use and Activity. Before starting a faction, present the idea to the Herring for input. Wait at least 1-2 weeks before starting. NEED: There should be a need for the faction. At the time of writing, there is need for an active mercenary faction, but no need for another law enforcement faction. Also, do not create a faction simply because there is a gap in the market, or because you or someone else wants to. The VI must present a need. USE: The faction must have a use in Roleplaying. Example: Fogeys and Stoatorian Guards serve to regulate the Imperium's laws. MAUL serves to do the MinoMis?'s evil bidding and regulate the Imperium's crime. The Imperium Musician Association attempted to provide people a chance to perform in a band at social gatherings and parties; in this regard, it failed. A faction composed entirely of assassins will not work well. A faction composed entirely of clerks serves no purpose whatsoever. The faction must have a legitimate and logical goal for its members to strive for; a job to perform, performing it well, getting a rank raise and a bigger paycheck as a result. ACTIVITY: Activity is where the Want comes in. The VI may need a faction, but unless people want to be in it, it's going nowhere. Before starting a faction, have a minimum of 3 people willing to participate to make it known. Within a month, it should have another 2 members; if it is in high doubt that it will not be popular with the people, do not bother starting it. 'PAYCHECKS, LEADERS, ETC' A faction's coffers acts much like a player's pocket. To pay a faction, the leader of the faction can Send Gilders to the faction's name (spelled exactly), or they can set their pay to negative gilders (making sure it's the exact amount as the other member's paychecks combined; this will take money from the leader and give it to the members.) The faction leader can also request funding from the Minister of Commerce, so long as the faction's paychecks are not outrageous. Ministers in charge of factions may pay their own members (MinoNice and Unsmudgables, MinoWar? and Stoatorian Guard, MinoMis? and MAUL.) Only Retto can change the leader of a faction (the person who can edit the members' status). The appropriate Minister should contact him with the details: namely, the exact name of who should take over the faction, and the exact name of the faction itself. Under no circumstance should anyone else tell Retto to change it over to them or anyone else. If you are in possession of a faction you no longer want, contact a Minister to arrange the switch. If you want to take a faction over from someone who is inactive, contact a Minister. If you want to take a faction over from someone who is incompetent, sort it out with the faction leader; once an agreement has been made, contact a Minister. Ministers, when choosing someone to run a faction, make sure they are active and willing. Never put someone in charge of a faction without their complete consent. OOC Factions are another matter entirely, but one that shall not be looked deeply into here (all OOC factions, like IC factions, should be discussed in the Herring before being started.) For the most part, starting a corporation with its own private board is better off for everyone, except in the cases of such factions as the Imperium Auditors, who actually do a difficult job for the good of the Imperium and not for their own means. Factions cannot be deleted; spell it right the first time! Category:Information